One of the world's most hotly anticipated television series - filmed in Northern Ireland - will be returning to our screens in a matter of months.

Game Of Thrones fans were already excited yesterday as Sky Atlantic confirmed the fifth series of the cult fantasy drama will start in the UK on April 13.

Series four ended last year on a cliffhanger with several of the most popular characters - including Arya Stark, played by 18-year-old Maisie Williams, and Tyrone Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage - experiencing high drama.

The series 5 storyline will draw from George RR Martin's fourth and fifth novels, A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons.

The storyline is an epic drama set in the fictional world of Westeros, where ambitious men and women of both honour and ill-repute live in a land whose summers and winters can last years and who fight to sit on the Iron Throne.

Although the new series is several months away, a special one-off preview titled A Day In The Life is expected to be screened next month - rumoured to be Sunday, February 8.

Game Of Thrones became a trending topic on Twitter in the United States when the launch date emerged yesterday, and fans from across the world were voicing their excitement in several languages.

Huffington Post worker James Donovan, from New York, tweeted: "So excited"; Lena Perez from Florida tweeted: "Oooh yeah baby"; Stephanie Voilt tweeted: "Can it just be April already so I can watch the new season of Game of Thrones"; and Danielle Murta has already started the countdown, tweeting: "92 days!!!".

It recently emerged the HBO production was the most pirated show of 2014 - a title it has 'won' for the third consecutive year.

The fifth season of Game Of Thrones premieres on Sky Atlantic on Monday, April 13, at 9pm.

Background

Game Of Thrones is a US fantasy drama made for TV by HBO based on novels by George RR Martin. It is filmed at locations across Northern Ireland, including the Painthall in Belfast, Mourne Mountains, Shane's Castle and Ballycastle, as well as in Iceland and Croatia. The show has been renewed for another two series and will return to Northern Ireland later this year.